I stayed up too late last night watching 'The Bridge'.....a disturbing yet enlightening movie with great film footage of the Golden Gate Bridge. It happened to contain very dark subject matter, but it was interesting and enlightening, and it evoked empathy from me, which is always a good thing, I suppose.
Anyway, I was sleepy this morning, yet got off to work on the right foot. The day was quite hectic, and a few times, I got 'an earful'; and, I guess I'll leave it at that. Even if you think you have developed a thick skin...it is never fun to be yelled at, and treated like an idiot. Oh well. I know better. ;)
Anyhow....good things happened too. I suppose I have to take the bad with the good, as I've been having a lot of good things happen to me lately.
Saw lots of seagulls on the way to work this morning, and when turning into Claude Lane close to work, I saw a handful of pigeons eating breadcrumbs, which some shop worker must have dropped at early dawn. As I cut slowly across Claude Lane in order to get to Sutter (where the parking garage is located), I looked for the old man that always sits outside of Murphy's pub on his bench, reading the morning paper. Today he wasn't there, but perhaps I had just missed him. I'd guess I see him 75% of the time on my morning commute.
Anyway, the day went well...with the exception of the few verbal lashings that I'll get over.
After work, I met with a pretty Chinese woman at a local Starbucks. My good friend is tutoring her so that she can speak/write English more proficiently. My friend had to go back and participate in a 4pm conference call at work, so I stayed to help tutor Joan (pronounced 'JoAnn'). Joan is probably my age, and is married with children. She is unusually tall for a Chinese woman...probably 5'11' at least, and very thin with long brown hair, and a pretty and friendly smile and infectious laugh. Joan had just returned from China and she was eager to share a treat with us. It was dried lemon peel, with a separate bag of anise powder, otherwise known as 'li hing mui powder', which you shake over the dried lemon peels. Both were this unappealing brown color...and, were packaged in sealed plastic packages, with foreign Chinese characters splashed all over. I am pretty adventurous, but none of it looked appetizing in the least. All of it actually looked gross. Janet and Joan were smiling at me, and Joan kept extending the open bag towards me and offering, so I finally reached in, and grabbed a brown/dried up lemon peel, and pulled it out. She sprinkled with li hing mui powder. I slowly put it in my mouth, chewed it up, and smiled. And...it...was.....disgusting. I smiled and smiled, and chewed and chewed, and swallowed as quickly as I possibly could, and thought about other things that would distract me from thinking about the disgusting stuff I was ingesting. Joan kept offering more, but I smiled and said 'I'm full from lunch, but thanks...it was awesome'!
Because I was helping tutor Joan, she quickly got up and offered to buy me a coffee. I declined, and tried to give her money, but she insisted. So, I slowly said I would like a 'm-o-c-h-a f-r-a-p-p-u-c-i-n-o', and she said 'Oh, those are my favorite too' in broken English with a giant smile on her face, and we immediately recognized our universal similiarities in that we enjoyed the simple pleasures.......chocolate/coffee/whipped cream. We were instant best friends.
Joan returned with my frap, and we quickly got down to business. She had to come up with a thesis statement....write two paragraphs, and a conclusion. She had one word that she could derive her paper from...and the word was 'alcohol'. So, the thesis statement was essentially that drinking alcohol could have health benefits, yet also health risks. Essentially, her short one-paged paper helped her with vocabulary, spelling, syntax, composition, reading and writing...and, probably a host of other things that I am not aware of, because I'm not really a trained tutor. But, we laughed and giggled as we spoke about the various hazards of alcohol....the universal elixir of mankind. It amazed me how quick and smart Joan was, and how she watched my lips and listened intently to get her pronunciation right, and her spelling. We spelled 'alcohol', and then she talked about our alphabet, and how you could join letters together to form words...and, that there was a finite supply of alphabet letters, and you just used them over and over. She said that is why writing Chinese is so difficult. Each word has a specific and intricate drawing.....there is no alphabet. She drew the picture for the word alcohol, and though I can't even remember it now, I wish I could include it here to show you the intricacy. Anyway, after the tutoring session, we hugged and exchanged email addresses, and parted ways. I look forward to seeing her again next week.
Then, I ran back to work to meet up with my friend, and we took off for the de Young Museum. We were meeting a group of girls to see the final evening of the 'The Birth of Impressionism' exhibit, which promised priceless masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.
Though the museum was only a few miles from the office, I got kind of lost. My friend and I drove separately because we'd all be going home after the tour. I finally made it to the museum, and parked probably 3/4 of a mile from the entrance. I ran to the entrance, and met up with my friends, and we enjoyed wandering through the galleries listening to the recorded headsets, and looking at priceless works of art from Paris. I got lost in my thoughts, and forgot the work drama from earlier in the day, and just absorbed all the beautiful images, and imagined what it was like to live in Paris in the late 19th century, early 20th century.
At the conclusion of the tour, we all met in the restaurant and had a nice meal with wine, and chatted about all sorts of topics. When it came time to go, we began to head our separate ways. I suddently and uncharacteristically got worried that I might not find my car right away, as I didn't know the city well.....had parked a bit of a ways from the entrance....and, it was now dark and foggy outside. Luckily, two of the girls offered to drive me to my car, after we found their car. Once we were all safely in their car, we began to search for mine. Half an hour later, and only a few blocks from where their car was parked...we found my car. I was completely disoriented by this point, and it was really unusual because though I haven't been in this city for long....I found my way out here with no problem from Dallas, and get around every day without getting lost. But, I think in the rush of leaving the tutoring session....hurrying to the museum to get there to meet others....and rushing to find a parking spot....and then, leaving in the foggy darkness.....I was just doomed to be lost for a while.
Anyway....all is well now. I had friends to shephard me, and I safely made it home through the dense fog from the city...back over the bridge...up the craggy hills...and now I am snugly situated inside my borrowed cottage for the evening.
It is thus that I shall now end this long-winded and disjointed essay....and retire to bed. I leave you with a few of my favorite paintings from the evening....perhaps one day, I shall see them again in Paris. Bonne Nuit. (perhaps next week, I'll learn the Chinese character for 'goodnight' from Joan).
William Bouguereau - The Wave (above)
The Bath (Alfred Stevens)
Renoir....The Swing
William Bouguereau - The Birth of Venus
And, here is a photo of those YUMMY DRIED CHINESE LEMON PEELS! BLECH!
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